Goms

The Goms is the uppermost valley of Valais, where the Rhône is still just a mountain stream. From Ried-Brig it's about a thirty-five-minute drive via Fiesch. The valley floor is flat, between 1,250 and just over 1,360 metres, the villages, Niederwald, Reckingen, Münster, Geschinen, Ulrichen, Oberwald, are rows of weathered dark timber houses one after another, and the sun shines here for up to three hundred days a year.

This is above all cross-country skiing territory, and the best in Switzerland according to the valley itself. More than a hundred kilometres of trails run from Oberwald to Niederwald, with a day pass from CHF 7. The Rottenloipe measures 19.56 kilometres and is easy, while the Hangloipe, at 21.49 kilometres, is considerably tougher. There's a floodlit 4.45-kilometre night trail between Ulrichen and Obergesteln, a sunny trail to Münster, and a race trail for anyone wanting to train. In late February the whole valley gets moving for the Gommerlauf, now in its fifty-fourth edition, with a 42-kilometre ski marathon from the Nordic Centre in Geschinen as its main distance.

For those who'd rather not stand on narrow skis: there are three small ski lifts at Oberwald, Münster-Geschinen and Gluringen plus a snowpark, ten toboggan runs including the 3.1-kilometre Rhône source descent, around 69 kilometres of winter walking paths and eight snowshoe routes up to the Galmihornhütte.

In summer more than four hundred kilometres of walking paths open up between 1,200 and 3,000 metres. The Rottenweg runs almost twenty kilometres flat alongside the young Rhône and is suitable for pushchairs and bikes. At Ulrichen hangs the Bodmer suspension bridge. From the Furka Pass you can walk to the Rhône Glacier, the river's source, in just over two hours. And then there's the Dampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke, a historic steam train that climbs eighteen kilometres from Realp to Oberwald, above two thousand metres, with locomotives more than a century old. The Grimsel, Furka and Nufenen passes are open in summer, making the Goms a base for motorcyclists and cyclists.